East London Line stimulates culture tourism for South East London

Jez: It's like Titanic. You're upstairs in your starched collar while I'm down below stairs, dancing a jig with the Poles and the Africans, having a better time than you could possibly imagine.
Mark: Just make sure you clean up in the changing room toilets. There's a big pool of rusty water by the urinals and it turns my stomach.
- Peep Show

A survey by the Culture Line coalition of culutral attractions linked by the East London Line has found that Londoners are twice as likely to cross the river north for culture as they are to head south.

The BBC reports:

About 80% of south Londoners cross the river at least once a month for cultural pursuits compared with just 41% of people from north London, the survey claims.

Visual arts Even with central London's cultural attractions excluded, 60% of people surveyed felt north London had more to offer in terms of culture. But the survey found that south Londoners may in fact have varied cultural tastes.

More than half of north Londoners rated eating out as one of their top three interests, followed by visual arts and popular music. While these interests also ranked highly for south Londoners, they were also more likely to enjoy the capital's performing arts, heritage, classical music and markets.

The headline figure isn't surprising, not least considering that north London is significantly bigger than south and home to most of central London. However, the survey also found that both north and south Londoners are more likely to cross the river to visit cultural attractions since the East London Line reopened, which is evidence of exactly what we have been arguing for two years - to stimulate cultural and economic growth in South East London, we need to build more cross-river links.

Thanks to Monkeyboy for the story.